DailyDirt: Diamonds, Diamonds Everywhere

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Creating artificial diamonds could lead to some really interesting semiconductor materials -- or even some insanely hard touchscreen displays (no more scratches!). Fortunately, synthesizing diamond-like materials is getting cheaper and easier, but at the same time, we've also discovered significantly large diamond deposits. But will diamonds still be included in engagement rings when the market prices plummet? Aluminum used to be the most expensive metal in the world... but it's no longer as highly regarded as it once was. Here are just a few links on one of our favorite allotropes of carbon.

Re: If it weren't for the diamond cartels ...

Diamonds aren't as rare as most people think they are -- if you're willing (or able) to travel a few thousand light years, you can find a whole planet made of diamond. A carbon-rich planet that is probably crystalline (and hence diamond-like) orbits the pulsar J1719-1438, and it's the most dense planet seen so far. [url]

except, as usual your probably WRONG, Diamond is less stable that graphite (carbon in another form) so a planet would most probably form as a graphite planet not Diamond..

"and it's the most dense planet seen so far".. !!!! SO WHAT, that would make a difference if diamond as a particularly dense material.. it's about half the density as IRON.. so why try to make the argument that 'it's dense, therefore it's diamond'...

carbon steel, is rich in carbon, it has a crystaline structure and is twice the density of diamond is far more abundant in the universe..

really? wow, some of you people...

For starters, density is highly dependent on the temperature of the material and it's phase. For all of you people talking about carbon rich steel, note that an object ORBITING CLOSE TO A STAR is likely to be molten if it is comprised of metal, and therefore significantly LESS DENSE than one made of diamond.
Even of it were orbiting further out, planetary mechanics would suggest that the core is generally molten, which, again, reduces the density significantly. Except diamonds don't melt, and carbonaceous steel does. Graphite wouldn't be stable that close to an active star, either.
Read the damn articles. You're giving Anonymous a bad name.